


All This Time

by TobyAddison



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Background Character Death, Bisexual Steve Rogers, F/M, Fluff, Valentine's Day, background Thorster/Thane, mention of past SamSteve, mentioned Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-01
Updated: 2015-03-01
Packaged: 2018-03-15 11:13:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3444989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TobyAddison/pseuds/TobyAddison
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve Rogers has just moved to New York from D.C., and Thor, being a good friend, joins forces with his fiancée Jane to set him up on a date with Jane's lab assistant Darcy. Darcy and Steve both reluctantly go along with the plan, but neither have any idea what's in store for them when they meet up.</p><p>Written for the 2015 Steve/Darcy Valentine's Day Fic Exchange for secondalto. Rated T for some mild language.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All This Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [secondalto](https://archiveofourown.org/users/secondalto/gifts).



> This is my Steve/Darcy Valentine's Day Exchange gift for [secondalto!](http://secondalto.tumblr.com/) Sorry it's so late - I definitely meant to have it done by the 14th, but then school and just me generally being lazy happened, and then I probably would've finished it on the 20th but then the deadline was extended, so... yeah.
> 
> I kind of freaked out when I found out I had a really good author to write for, but hopefully this won't be too bad.
> 
> Prompt + other info after the fic so I won't spoil anything. Just as a warning, though, in case you're triggered by this, there's mentions of Bucky's death and of Steve reacting negatively to it in terms of his mental health.
> 
> Also, and sorry for the long author's note, this is un-edited at the moment other than edits I did while transferring it from my handwritten pages to the computer due to running out of time. I'll probably come back through and edit it later. And also sorry if you got a notification a couple days ago that this fic was posted, as that was an accident.

“Jane, I asked you to stop doing this.”

“Come on, Darcy, please?” Dr. Jane Foster had taken a break from her lab equipment long enough to give her lab assistant puppy-dog eyes. They were one of Darcy’s few weaknesses. “He just moved into town, so he doesn’t really know anyone.”

“So your logical response to that is to set me up on a date with him?” Much to Darcy’s frustration, Jane and her fiancé Thor were constantly trying to get Darcy a boyfriend, something she thought she had put an end to. They certainly meant well, but Darcy just wasn’t interested in any of the men they shoved her way, and she wasn’t really looking for a relationship anyhow.

“Yes?” Jane said, her face hopeful. When Darcy only responded with an irritated look, she sighed. “Please, just this once. I promise I won’t do it anymore.” Darcy raised her eyebrows. “Okay, I don’t promise that. But he’s a really nice guy, and even if it doesn’t work out, he could really use some friends.”

“Ian was a ‘nice guy’, too. And Gunnar, and Alex, and Michael, and Fandral…”

“Okay, Fandral was a mistake. This guy is different, though. I mean, I’ve never met him, but Thor has nothing but good things to say about him.”

“I’m pretty sure Thor has nothing but good things to say about anyone.” Darcy sat down heavily on a nearby stool, taking off her glasses and rubbing at her eyes. “How does Thor know him, again?”

Jane’s face lit up as she took Darcy’s questioning as the beginnings of acceptance. “They were in the army together. He was out there with his friend, but after his friend died he ended up getting honorable discharge and kind of fell off the face of the planet. Apparently he’s gotten himself back together, though, and he contacted Thor about a month ago. He’s coming up to New York from D.C., and he’ll be doing some security work for Tony.”

“He sounds like an interesting guy. A little bit crazy, too.”

“Darcy!” Jane shot her a sharp look, and Darcy glared back.

“Not because of that! God, Jane, his friend died, so I imagine whatever happened was probably a pretty reasonable reaction. I’m talking about willingly working with Tony Stark.”

“Okay, yeah. It does take a special kind of person to work with Tony.” Jane sat back down at her equipment, shoving some paperwork out of the way. Darcy would have to sort it later. “So, are you in or not? I can get his phone number from Thor if you want to text him beforehand.”

Darcy sighed. “Fine. What’s his name?”

“I think Thor said it was Steven?”

“Steven. Cool. I’ll text Thor and get his number so you don’t have to do it. Now get back to work, woman.”

She was going to regret this.

 

“Steven, my friend! How are you?” Steve jumped as the booming voice of his Australian friend echoed around Stark Tower’s lobby. No matter how many times he was around the other man, Steven could never get used to Thor’s energy or his apparent lack of the ability to speak at a reasonable volume, or even just the man in general. Although Thor was only three inches taller than Steve, Steve always felt dwarfed in the other man’s presence, though it was probably due to more than just his height. Thor had a way of filling a room by just standing there, and it became even more apparent when he opened his mouth. The worst part – or maybe it was the best part – was that he didn’t even seem to be aware of it.

As Thor’s hand made contact with his shoulder and he found himself drawn into a rough side-hug, Steve remembered that he had been spoken to and should probably answer. “I’m doing… I’m doing alright, Thor.”

“Is the Man of Iron treating you well?”

Steve’s brow creased. “Man of Iron?”

“He means Tony. It’s an old nickname. Tony thinks it’s a reference to his iron will, but really it’s just because he used to play Iron Maiden nonstop in his labs.” A petite woman appeared at Thor’s side, her brown hair tucked neatly behind her ears. She stuck out her hand in greeting, and Steve took it somewhat hesitantly. “Sorry. Jane Foster. I’m Thor’s fiancée.”

Steve nodded. “It’s nice to meet you, Miss Foster. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Dr. Foster,” Thor corrected, but there was no venom in his voice.

The woman gave Steve a knowing smile, although he wasn’t exactly sure what he was supposed to be knowing. “Please, just call me Jane.”

“Steve Rogers, though I’m sure you already knew that.”

Thor, apparently bored with pleasantries, broke in. “Have you heard yet from our friend Darcy, Steven? She asked me for your cell phone number, so I was under the impression she was planning to contact you.” Another blinding grin spread across the taller man’s face.

“Yes, she texted me the other day. We’re meeting up on Saturday.” Steve had felt badly about forcing the girl into the mess that was his life, but there was no way he could say no to Thor.

“This Saturday?” Jane looked a little concerned about that.

“Yes. Is there something wrong about that day?” The crease between Steve’s brows reappeared.

The woman bit her lip while Thor looked on somewhat obliviously. “Well, it’s just… you do know that’s Valentine’s Day, right?”

The color drained from Steve’s face. “Shit.” No, he hadn’t known that. Valentine’s Day wasn’t exactly something he’d had much of a reason to celebrate in recent years.

Jane laughed, but Steve didn’t feel reassured. “Don’t worry. I doubt Darcy’s expecting anything special. Her normal V-Day plan is a date with Netflix and ice cream, so I’m sure you’ll be a nice change of pace.” She reached out and patter Steve on the arm – which he did not flinch at, thankfully – before taking Thor’s hand in her own. “Come on, big guy. Let’s leave Steve to his work.”

“It was lovely talking with you, Steven,” Thor said. “Would you be interested in meeting with us for lunch?”

Steve blinked. “Um, sure. Sure. Yeah, just… text me the details.”

“That I will do,” Thor said with a nod before beginning to leave with his fiancée in tow.

“It was nice meeting you, Steve!” Jane called over her shoulder as the pair disappeared from view.

“You too,” Steve said belatedly and then cursed under his breath. Valentine’s Day? He and Sam hadn’t celebrated that holiday even before things went south. Jane said Darcy wouldn’t be expecting anything special, but…

But there was the fact that Darcy hadn’t commented on the date. Maybe she hadn’t remembered the significance of it, either. Steve had been considering texting her to ask if she wanted to reschedule for a more normal day, but if she didn’t realize the holiday their date was falling on, that could just make things awkward. His safest bet, then, was to just go along with the date as originally planned and hope for the best.

He was probably going to regret this.

 

Darcy had been underneath her desk, fixing some plug that had come loose, when Jane’s voice shocked her into hitting her head on the underside of her workspace.

“So, Valentine’s Day?”

“Ow! Shit!” After a few more curses, Darcy crawled out, clutching her head and glaring indignantly at her boss. “Dammit, Jane, give a girl some warning next time!”

Jane’s answering smile was not at all apologetic, and her words confirmed that: “Not sorry.” She did, however, pause long enough in her gloating to help Darcy to her feet before following behind her assistant as she went to retrieve and ice pack. Then she repeated her question, a bit more forcefully this time: “So, Valentine’s Day?” Darcy shrugged with one shoulder, the other occupied by supporting the arm that held the ice pack to the back of her head.

“Yeah. A bit cliché, but he seemed nice enough, and it’s not like I had any better plans for that day.” Suddenly she stopped and wrinkled her eyebrows, returning her gaze back to Jane. “Wait, how did you know when my date was? I didn’t tell you, and you’re sure as hell not good enough to hack into my phone’s calendar, even as much as you’ve improved under my tutelage.” When Darcy had first begun interning with the scientist, Jane had barely grasped even the basics of computer usage beyond Microsoft Word. It was a wonder she had made it past high school.

Jane shrugged, and Darcy could tell there was restrained excitement behind the casual gesture. Her boss always got far more involved with Darcy’s dating life than she would have preferred, but this was the first time in a while Darcy had seen the other woman genuinely enthusiastic about one of Darcy’s dates. “I was with Thor yesterday when he went to visit Steve at work,” Jane said. “We asked him about you.”

Darcy had begun going back to her work, but now she paused. “Oh?”

She could almost feel Jane’s smirk from behind her. “Yeah. Turns out he had no idea this Saturday was V-Day. He freaked out when I told him.”

Darcy was doing her best to be uninterested, but she couldn’t help being at least a little intrigued by what Steve might have had to say about her. “Really?” she asked, keeping her voice as level as possible. “That’s… interesting.”

“I told him he didn’t have to do anything special for you just because of the holiday. That’s cool, right?”

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, sure.” Before Jane could say another word, Darcy sighed and spun around in her chair, fixing the scientist with a hard stare. “Look, Jane, I know what you’re doing.” Now she was using her Serious Business voice that was only brought out on special occasions. “You’re trying to get me just as excited as you are about this date, and I get that. You feel guilty about having me tied up as your assistant, so you try to make things better for me outside of work. But you don’t have to do that. I’m going to go on this date, and whether it’s good or bad, it’s going to be fine. I don’t need your help on this, and I know you mean well, but I would really appreciate if you left me alone about this guy. Okay?”

Jane swallowed. “Yes, Darcy, I understand.”

Darcy smiled, relaxing back into her chair. “Good. Now get back to your sciencing,” she said, waving a head in the general direction of Jane’s equipment as she turned back to her laptop.

The scientist laughed. “Okay, mom.”

 

Late Saturday morning found Darcy scrambling to leave her apartment, already five minutes late for her date with Steve. After dropping her keys more than once, Darcy was finally able to lock the door behind her, gather together her things, and head for the elevator. Once there, she sent off a quick text to Steve, letting him know she would be a little bit late, and immediately began panicking.

As much as she had tried not to let it, Darcy’s conversation with Jane from a few days prior had really gotten to her. Before her boss had let on what she knew about Steve, Darcy truly hadn’t cared about the outcome of her date. Yeah, the guy seemed nicer than anyone else Jane and her fiancé had tried to set her up with, but that didn’t mean anything about how he would act in person. Even if he was just as nice in real life as he was over the phone, Darcy didn’t even know what the man looked like, so, for all she knew, he could be the spitting image of a gorilla. That seemed unlikely, though, since Thor seemed to attract only good-looking people into his inner circle – and, yes, Darcy was including herself in that. She knew what she looked like.

Now, though, Darcy found herself anxious about meeting Steve, something that hadn’t happened to her before a date since she was seventeen. She couldn’t even say exactly why she was freaking out; the only new information that Jane had given her was that Steve seemed pretty awkward and clueless. Darcy had never been one to find those qualities particularly endearing in a man, since, unlike some women she had known, she had no interest in being her boyfriend’s second mother. All Darcy knew was that she was both excited and scared about something she felt she had no reason to be either excited or scared about.

The family-owned Greek restaurant Steve had chosen was only a few blocks from Darcy’s apartment, so she set out walking towards its location, hoping the winter air could snap her back to her senses. Steve had offered to pick her up at her place, but she had declined; it had seemed too personal for something that was almost a blind date. Since they had no way of knowing who the other was, Darcy had been instructed to go into the café and look for the man with calla lilies. 

After a walk that seemed both too long and too short, Darcy found herself outside the tiny café Steve had picked. The décor was exactly what she had expected, all striped blue and white and with pillars and archways wherever possible, and while the outside seating area had room enough for at least a dozen people, the inside looked like it could barely hold more than five customers. Most of the restaurant’s interior was taken up by an enormous glass case filled with different pastries, and, judging from the outside, more than half of the place’s square footage was dedicated to the kitchen.

Stepping inside the restaurant, Darcy observed her surroundings. Most likely owing to the cold weather, there were only three diners in addition to herself, and two of them were an incredibly sweet-looking older couple on a date. That meant that the person sitting in the corner hiding behind an oversized menu and a glass vase with a bouquet of white flowers had to be Steve. Before she could take a step closer, Steve lowered his menu to look out the window to his left, and Darcy felt her breath catch in her throat.

The man was devastatingly handsome, although she really should’ve expected that given the appearances of Thor’s other friends. He had a full beard, and while Darcy had seen plenty of men use one to hide a weak chin, this guy’s facial hair wasn’t disguising any faults; Darcy could tell that underneath the coarse hairs was a jaw that could kill. She could see even from where he was half-hidden in shadows that the man’s shoulders were enormous and that he has most certainly not been slacking off on his fitness regime since leaving the army. But Steve’s beauty hadn’t even been what had caused Darcy to pause; it was the fact that she was pretty sure she knew him.

Suddenly, something clicked into place.

After collecting herself, Darcy strode over to Steve and dropped her purse on the table with a thump, taking in the familiar color of Steve’s soft blue eyes when he looked up at her. She smirked as she watched those same blue eyes widening in shock and recognition.

“Steven Grant Rogers,” she said. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

 

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

After a moment or two of gaping at the woman in front of him in silence, Steve felt a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.” “Darcy Lewis,” he said slowly, relishing the feeling of a name he hadn’t said in God knew how long. “I should have known.” Setting down his menu, Steve stood up from his chair and pulled Darcy into a rough hug. After what was probably an awkward amount of time, he let go, only pulling back far enough to look into her eyes. “Jesus Christ, Darcy, it’s been – how long has it been?”

When Darcy laughed, Steve thought it was the most gorgeous sound he’d heard in a long, long time. “Almost twenty years now,” she said. “I was seven when you guys left Brooklyn.” Then her eyes softened. “And now you’re back.”

Steve nodded. “Yeah, I–” Suddenly remembering his manners, he cleared his throat and stepped back, motioning to the chair across from his. “Here, why don’t you sit down first? Look at the menu, order some food, and then we can – talk.”

And that’s what happened.

When they were kids, Steve and Darcy had lived next down in the same run-down apartment building, Steve with his mom and dad and Darcy with her single mom. They had grown up together, babysat by whichever parent had the time, having sleepovers until their parents decided they were too old for that. They were, by anyone’s definition, best friends. Then, when they were seven years old, Steve’s father had joined the army and taken his wife and son along with him. Their tearful separation had been the last time they had seen each other.

For Steve, everything had gone downhill from there. His dad died in Iraq only a few years later, leaving him and his mom on their own. Then his mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, and even the money they received from the Army wasn’t enough to do much for her medical care. She was dead by the time Steve was a teenager, and then he moved in with his best friend James and his family.

After 9/11, he and James had vowed to join the military once they were old enough. They did, both of them enlisting on Steve’s eighteenth birthday, and somehow the two of them managed to stick together through basic training and deployment. They’d met Thor overseas, and then – then James had died.

Steve wasn’t sure how much Darcy had been told about this part of his life, but he decided to hold back nothing. Even if they hadn’t seen each other for nearly twenty years, she deserved to know.

“I didn’t – I reacted pretty badly,” he said, not looking up into Darcy’s face even though he could feel her eyes on him, choosing instead to keep his gaze on the half-eaten gyro on his plate. “I got more aggressive. Started taking more risks, to the point where I was endangering not only myself, but the rest of the company. After a few evaluations, I somehow got out on honorable discharge. That was four years ago.

“I lived in D.C. when I came back. I met a guy at the VA named Sam. We both knew I wasn’t ready for a relationship, but… we did it anyway.” Steve’s head jerked up as he realized how he might be coming across. “I’m bi, just so you know. I wouldn’t have agreed on this date if I didn’t – if I wasn’t interested in women.” Darcy nodded, and Steve breathed a sigh of relief that she appeared to be understanding. “Anyways, Sam and I were together for almost two years before things finally fell apart. It was messy, but neither of us wanted to leave D.C., and we knew it would be immature to stay angry with each other with how frequently we would interact at the VA, so we tried to stay at least mostly friendly. Six months later, I got a call from Stark, and… here I am.” Once he finished his story, Steve finally made eye contact with Darcy, smiling slightly at her from across the table. “Your turn.”

Darcy had much less to say than Steve. She’d stayed in Brooklyn, going to Brooklyn Tech for high school and then City Tech for college, majoring in computer systems technology. As an undergrad, she’d gotten an internship with Jane, a physics professor at City Tech who was clueless with computers, and after she’d graduated Jane hired her as a full-time assistant. That was what her job had been for the previous five years, doing mainly data entry for Jane while also making sure nothing blew up and keeping Jane alive and healthy in general.

“So, that’s what I’ve been doing. Pretty boring compared to your life, but I like Jane and I like what I do,” Darcy said over baklava. After a few more bites spent in friendly silence, she spoke again. “This had been great, Steve, this… getting to know you again. But I do know what Jane and Thor wanted to happen between us here, and I just wanted to say that I wouldn’t… if you’re okay with it, I wouldn’t object to something more… romantic coming out of this.” She was blushing now, and Steve thought it was adorable.

What she had said caught him off guard, though. He’d been so caught up in the shock of seeing Darcy again and the recounting of their lives that he had completely forgotten why they had met up in the first place. Although Darcy had seemed nice enough over texts, Steve hadn’t gone into this date with romantic intentions; it wasn’t even something he had considered. Once she brought it up, though, Steve found that, no, he didn’t object to the idea of starting something between the two of them.

Steve didn’t realize he had been sitting in silence until Darcy spoke again, looking awkward. “It’s okay if you’re not interested. I mean, it was just an idea. We can just forget this, go back-”

“Darcy.” She looked up, and Steve reached across the table and took one of her hands in his. He let his face relax into a soft smile.” I would like that.” At Darcy’s responding grin, Steve felt his face growing warm. Since when did he blush? In an attempt to not embarrass himself, Steve jumped up from the table to pay at the cash register, realizing belatedly that his sudden action had likely increased any awkwardness that might have existed between the two of them. While waiting for his credit card to go through, Steve glanced back at the table, grateful to see that Darcy didn’t look uncomfortable. She was still smiling a little, now texting someone on what looked like a StarkPhone. Steve guessed she was telling Dr. Foster about their date.

Once he had paid and gone back to the table, Steve stumbled his way through asking if he could walk Darcy home, a request she thankfully accepted. Then they left the flowers behind – the restaurant could do what it wanted with them – and began the walk to Darcy’s apartment hand in hand.

Darcy was silent the entire time, and it worried Steve initially, but after a few minutes he began to relax into the comfortable feeling she was giving off. Her apartment was only a few blocks from the cafe, and as Steve observed his surroundings, he realized how little things had changed since their childhood. Even the restaurant they’d eaten at had been one he’d passed by frequently as a boy, although he’d never been inside. He’d been back in Brooklyn for less than a month, so he hadn’t had much of a chance to explore yet, but he wouldn’t have been surprised to find that their old apartment building was still there.

Steve was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t realize they were at Darcy’s apartment until she was standing with her door open looking up at him expectantly. Was she waiting for him to ask to go inside, or was he supposed to say goodbye? He suddenly felt awkward in a way he hadn’t experienced since he was sixteen on his first date. He hadn’t gone out with many people between then and joining the Army, and then the next person he’d been involved with had been Sam, and they hadn’t gone on any real dates. Realizing he needed to say something before things could get any more awkward, Steve stuttered out the first thing that came to mind: “I have work in an hour, so – I can’t stay, sorry.”

Darcy looked at him oddly, and then she abruptly burst into laughed. “You really have no idea what you’re doing, do you?” she said once she was able to calm down.

Steve flushed, and he grinned sheepishly. “Not really, no. Been a long time since I was on a date.”

She smiled gently up at him, a trace of humor still lingering in her eyes. “Here, I think I can help.” And then her hands were reaching up and they were cupping his jaw and she was pulling him down and their lips touched and – oh yeah, kissing. That was what you did after a first date. Before Darcy could pull away, Steve remembered to respond – he seemed to be doing a lot of remembering that day – and now, he could really, honestly say this was the best Valentine’s Day he’d had in a long while.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompts from secondalto:  
> romantic dinner  
> flowers (but not roses)  
> kissing (leading to sexytimes but only if author is okay with that)
> 
> I'm seventeen, so no sexytimes from me - not that it would be any good if I tried to write it. Originally the calla lilies were yellow roses, which symbolize friendship - there was a bit about how Steve had chosen the flowers because he didn't intend to go into the date for romance and originally, although it never got written, I thought about doing a flashback scene where Steve gave Darcy yellow roses before they left - but then I went back and reread the prompt and saw that it said not roses. Then I changed the roses to freesia, which also mean friendship, but that seemed a bit obscure so I just gave up on the whole flowers thing. Also, sorry for the awkward ending - I have Never Been Kissed, so I'm pretty clueless about writing one.
> 
> Under "stuff they like", secondalto put AUs, so... this fic happened.
> 
> Title is from the song ["Scrapbook" by The Rocket Summer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5XvlMKEXHw), which is a gorgeous song that I think represents ShieldShock pretty well. Here's the full stanza that line is from:
>
>> There's the place where the story about us started and took the stage  
> It's been so many days  
> And now the bricks are starting to crack  
> It feels a little weird looking back  
> 'Cause some things have changed, some things have died  
> But somehow you stayed the same all this time
> 
> ...go listen to the song, it's fantastic.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this!!! You can find me on tumblr at [americanairliines](http://americanairliines.tumblr.com/). (Yes, my URL is a reference to my love for SamSteve, aka American Airlines, which I managed to sneak into this ShieldShock fic......)


End file.
